It's been a while since I've posted anything on this web site because it has been a while since there has been anything Astros-related to which I could respond. SO, I thought I'd let you take a look at how I blow off some steam. Some people use drugs recreationally. Others hunt humans for sport. Not me! I try to find random pictures of scoreboards to tell exactly when that picture was taken, and I thought I'd walk you through the process of how I do it. You do not have to read this.
1. Start with the image. It's very important that, if the image on the Google Search comes from a newspaper article, to skip past the date of the article. Just load the image into a new tab. Here's one. Like I said, it's very random.
So how do we begin? Let's start with what we know:
1. This is Milwaukee at Wrigley Field. Look at the ivy, for crying out loud. Even if you didn't know what the outfield wall of Wrigley Field looked like, you can see the phone number for the rooftop seats and see that the area code is 773, which is Chicago. We know it's Milwaukee because Eric Thames is wearing a big ol' Brewers cap. If you didn't know that, then perhaps this is not the exercise - or web site - for you.
2. Due to the lack of greenery on the outfield wall, this is early in the season. Probably April. Also, Eric Thames' .417 batting average at the time of the picture being taken would indicate this is early in the season. You can also see that the Blurry People in the outfield bleachers look like they're bundled up.
3. So now we start to narrow down the possible dates of when the picture was taken. Eric Thames played with the Brewers from 2017-2019. The Brewers played the Cubs in April in 2017, 2018, and 2019, but the Brewers/Cubs games in 2018 and 2019 were in Milwaukee. They played at Wrigley April 17-19, 2017, so that seems like it's our best bet.
4. At the time of the pictured at-bat, Thames was hitting .417 with seven home runs. Thames hit his seventh home run of 2017 in the top of the 3rd inning off of the Cubs' John Lackey on April 17, 2017. He hit his eighth home run of 2017 on April 20 at home against St. Louis, so to find the range of when Thames had exactly seven home runs at Wrigley Field, it rules out 2018 and 2019, so we're back to somewhere between April 17-19, 2017.
5. Now we have to figure out exactly which game this was. There's no score, so we can't look to see if either Milwaukee or Chicago had put up a big half-inning. The biggest clue isn't the 0x1, or the run scored, but the two walks. Thames drew two walks in a game at Wrigley Field twice in 2017: April 19, and May 19. But by May 19, 2017 Thames had 13 home runs, so it can't be that game. It has to be April 19.
6. To the next, and final point: At what point of the game was Eric Thames up to bat after going 0x1 with two walks and a run scored at Wrigley Field on April 19, 2017? We see that the Cubs pitcher is named "Montgomery." That's Mike Montgomery, who threw 1.2IP in relief of Tommy Milone's 5IP start. If we look really close, Montgomery has already thrown 0.2IP and was sitting on 23 pitches. This is either the 6th or the 7th inning. Just simply by looking at the box score of the game (linked in Item 5), we know that the #2-hitting Thames drew a walk in the top of the 1st inning and scored a batter later on Travis Shaw's 2-run home run. Thames also drew another walk in the top of the 3rd, and grounded out to end the top of the 4th inning. There is our 0x1, and we already have the two walks and the run scored. Montgomery pitched to Thames in the top of the 6th with two outs. Thames would go on to ground out with the bases loaded to end the 6th inning.
7. This picture was taken in the top of the 6th inning on April 19, 2017. The Cubs won 7-4.
Please still be friends with me.